The present invention relates to stackable bottle cases of plastic which are divided inside into compartments for receiving the bottles and which have a handle extending across only a portion of the cross-sectional dimension, within the confines of the case, and raised above the compartmenting.
In a known bottle case of this type (such as described in the German Fed. Rep. Pat. No. 22 55 316, to which may also be compared similar structures described in the Swedish design application 76-0510 published Aug. 22, 1976) the compartments are designed to receive two parallel rows of bottles. The compartments accordingly form two adjacent rows of at least approximately square compartments. Between these rows there is provided a greater spacing than is provided between the compartments of one of the rows. Within this spacing region a bow-shaped handle rises from two support columns. The two compartment rows extend, as does the bow-shaped handle, in the lengthwise direction of the bottle case. In this way, a relatively large amount of room between the rows is lost.
It is also known (see for example the German Fed. Rep. Gebrauchsmuster 73 15 492) to have a carrying handle extend transversely between the two longitudinal sides of the case in such a way that two bottle rows extending longitudinally in the bottle cases are each interrupted by the width of the carrying handle. This arrangement also requires relatively much space in a stackable bottle case of plastic.
At any rate, if it is desired to make a bottle case with a central carrying handle, the handle must either be arranged low or be able to more or less fit into the dead space of the underpart of another case stacked thereon.
Such bottle cases with a central handle are of interest particularly, but nut exclusively, for so-called Minicases. These accept the same number of bottles, or somewhat fewer, than a half of a normal bottle case of normal size and permit palletizing and transport just as do the normal bottle cases. Their weight, together with the received bottles, is usually measured so that a housewife can carry the filled bottle case by the central carrying handle without too much exertion.
It is an object of the invention to provide a bottle case of this sort with a better use of space than in the above-described known bottle cases.